Rakshasha
by Zacherrie-Iltoniel
Summary: Sam and Dean are in lockdown mode in the bunker with a monster they've never faced. Will the make it out alive?


RAKSHASHA

By T.S. Domino

1.

Sam and Dean made their way down the metal steps that led into the Men of Letters bunker. They were still getting adjusted to the place having recently obtained the key from their grandfather who came from the past to help them defeat Abbadon. While Sam was fascinated by all of the secrets that the bunker held, Dean looked at it as a real chance to have a place to call home. After so many years on the road, he felt that the Winchesters deserved a place to call their own.

"Can you believe we fought Nazis, Sam?" Dean said as they walked into the expansive library.

"And, met an actual golem." Sam added.

"Yeah, not as cool as Nazi necromancers that we got to wipe off the planet, but yeah, the golem was pretty cool. Serious weight lifter goals there."

"Dean, a golem is that big because of what it was made of. It actually doesn't have to work out. It will always look like that."

"Seriously? Man that would be cool. Can you imagine eating whatever you want all the time with no exercise?" Dean smiled as he imagined a sea of sandwiches and pie.

"You know Dean; just because there are places called all you can eat doesn't mean you should eat all you can eat."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it just give me my moment here, Sammy. Ooo! Remember those Turducken Pepperjack Slammers from Biggerson's? Now that was a sandwich."

"Dean, that was a mind control pile of goo that Leviathan used to placate the masses so they could eat us, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now I'm hungry, thanks Sam."

"What? For what? I actually said not to eat something. How can that make you hungry?"

Dean gave Sam 'the look' and pulled a small, metal box from his coat pocket and started to look at the symbols on it.

"Where did you get that?" Sam asked.

"Oh, at the Nazi stronghold. Saw it on a bookshelf and it reminded me of one of the curse boxes from Dad's storage container."

"Really? Can I see it?"

"Sure," Dean handed it to Sam who inspected the box carefully.

"Dean, I don't recognize any of these symbols. Maybe there is something here in the library that can tell us what it is."

"Sounds good, you read I'm gonna make a sandwich. You want anything?"

"I'm good."

Sam set the box carefully on one of the long oak table in the library and went in search of books with symbols to help him decipher what the box could have in it. He grabbed three large tomes of symbology and headed back to the table. His foot bumped against the leg of one of the chairs and the books fell on the table. The top one, the thickest leather bound of the three fell and knocked into the box. The box went skittering towards the edge of the table and rocked precariously.

Sam lunged for it and just as he was touching it it fell to the ground, the lid popped open and there was a whoosh of red energy that took Sam's breath away. He stood up, his eyes adjusting to the glare.

There in front of Sam was a tall, man shaped creature. It had the head of a tiger and was wearing a red velvet smoking jacket and silk pants.

"What are you supposed to be?" Sam asked.

"Ah, it feels so good to be out of that box. I must thank you." The creature bared its huge fangs and Sam was pretty sure he didn't want to be thanked.

Then all Hell broke loose. The bunker lights turned to red and a loud alarm started blaring. Then came a cold, metallic voice from speakers secreted in the walls of the bunker.

"Rakshasha detected. Bunker in lockdown mode. Self destruct in T minus 24 hours."

"Oh bother," The creature looked at Sam, and Sam could swear it smiled at him. Its left eye twinkled green and then just like that, it was gone.

"Dean!" Sam yelled.

2.

Dean was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on his sandwich when the alarms went off.

"What the Hell," he growled and started to walk out of the kitchen. He stopped, grabbed the plate his masterpiece of a sandwich was on and the open beer bottle on the table and made his way to the library.

The red lights gave the place an eerie glow as he hurried down the hallway. Then came the voice again;

"Rakshasha detected. Bunker in lockdown mode. Self destruct in T minus 23 hours 58 minutes."

Dean made it as far as the control room where he found Sam flipping switches and checking buttons on all the equipment that ringed the room.

"Sam! What the Hell is going on?"

"Not sure. I'm looking for something that will..."

And just like that the alarm went off and the lights returned to normal.

"That's better," Dean sat his sandwich on the main control table in the bunker and took a seat.

"Dean, I don't think..."

"Rakshasha detected. Bunker in lockdown mode. Self destruct in T minus 23 hours and 54 minutes."

"...it's any better. Sam finished his sentence.

"Why does it keep saying that?" Dean asked.

Sam told him about the box and the thing with a head like a tiger wearing a smoking jacket.

"Yeah," Dean nodded as he ate his sandwich. "That does sound like a Rakshasha."

"Dean, what do you know about a Rakshasha?"

"Plenty," he pushed his body away from the table and started towards the doorway that led to the living quarters."

"Dean, where are you going?"

"To the library."

"Um, the library is that way." Sam pointed to the huge entrance to the gigantic library collected by The Men of Letters.

"Not that library," Dean scoffed. "My library."

Dean walked off leaving Sam more confused than when he had started.

As quick as he was gone, Dean returned with a slim, hardbound book. He set it down carefully and began to leaf through the pages.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Sam?" Dean's brow was knitted in concentration.

"Is that a Monster Manual?"

"Uh huh."

"From Dungeons and Dragons?"  
"Yeah, Sam, where else are you going to get a Monster Manual," Dean rolled his bright, green eyes sarcastically.

"There!" Dean exclaimed and put a finger on the page. IS that what you saw?"

Sam walked over to the book and saw what Dean was pointing at.

"Yeah, that was it. So, you're telling me that we have a fictional monster in the bunker that has set off some type of alarm?"

"Sam, all of the monsters in D&D come from actual folklore. We have fought so many monsters that most people would call fictional. Hell, most people don't believe in vampires. How many vamps have we killed, Sam?"  
Sam nodded in agreement.

"Rakshasha detected. Bunker in lockdown mode. Self destruct in T minus 23 hours and 49 minutes."

"And, what do you suppose that means?" Dean asked.

"Let me try something," Sam walked to the main door of the bunker and tried to open it."

"Locked," he called down to Dean.

"Hmmm," Dean scratched the stubble on his face," We better check the garage exit."

They checked the garage exit. It wouldn't budge.

"Well, that explains that." Dean finally said.

"It does?" Sam looked confused.

"Sure, for some reason The Men of Letters had safeguards put in place where if a Rakshasha was released in the bunker it would shut down the place and set a self destruct sequence."

"Why?"

"They are nasty creatures, Sam. Maybe there's more to this than meets the eye. Some sort of world threatening event where this was their final solution. Nuke it from orbit. Only way to make sure."

"Alien quotes, Dean?"

"No Sam, Aliens quote." Dean looked disappointed at his younger brother. It was Sam's turn to roll his eyes.

"So, now what?" Sam asked.

"Now we figure out a way to kill a Rakshasha, Sam."

They walked back to the control center together. A feeling of dread filled them both with the same thought.

What if this was their last hunt?

3.

After an hour of searching the actual Men of Letters library for any clues as to how to deal with the Rakshasha they sat down back in the control room no better off than they had been before. The countdown continued like clockwork.

"Is there any way to turn that damned voice off?" Dean grumbled.

"Let me look again," Sam stood up and strode over to the control panels looking for something that might help stop the countdown. It all looked the same as the last time that he searched for a shut off switch. He decided to check the back of the control panels and as he turned the corner of the huge electronics array his foot caught on something. He looked down and adjacent to the control panel was a button embedded in the floor. It looked like the dimmer switch in the Impala.

He shrugged, grinned and tapped his foot on the switch.

The lights in the control room dimmed. A panel slid open in the ceiling and a flat surface on four thick wires came down to reveal a projector. Another, thing panel opened and a large white screen descended from the ceiling.

"Sam, what did you do?"

"I don't know there was this switch on the floor so I tapped it and, well this happened."

"It's like an ancient home theater," Dean grinned. "Wish I had some popcorn."

Then the projector flared to life. Sam took a seat and the Winchester Brothers stared intently at the screen.

An older gentleman snappily dressed in a tweed suit appeared. He cleared his throat and began to speak;

"If you are seeing this my fellow Men of Letters then it means that the Rakshasha Solution has been implemented. My apologies to have you in such dire straits. The beast known as Rakshasha is so inherently dangerous that we had to put this into place. When the countdown has finished it will set off a chain reaction to the multiple nitroglycerine charges placed within the bunker. The only way to circumvent this solution is to destroy the beast. So little is known of the Rakshasha. Our only encounter with it was when we were fighting Nazi necromancers during the Second World War."

Sam gave Dean a dirty look.

Dean shrugged and pointed at the screen that was still talking.

"If near the end of the countdown all seems lost then I recommend a large quantity of the fine brandy we have in the library behind the books in a secret compartment. It will be in the section dealing with Mayan folklore."

"That I'll remember," Dean spoke up. Sam shushed him.

"I wish I had better news, my friends," The man continued talking. "Remember you are Men of Letters. You are better than most and I feel you will find a solution other than the one already being implemented. Godspeed my brothers."

The projector went dark, the lights came up and the projector and the screen slid back up into the ceiling.

"You know," Dean smiled "When this is all over I'm going to figure out how that projection system works and we're having movie night."

Sam gave a forced smile and rolled his eyes.

"You mean 'if', right Dean?"

"We're the Winchesters, Sammy. If anyone can figure this out, it's going to be us."

"Did you notice something, Dean?"

"What?"

"The announcement stopped while the movie played."

"Yeah, give it a minute. The projector probably had it pause."

They waited for a minute, and then they waited for another. Nothing. Then one of the control panels opened up and an archaic, digital read out slid up out of the panel and it had a countdown on it. It was a series of printed wheels that slowly ticked down the clock.

"So, while we're running around in this damned locked down bunker looking for an answer to our problem we need to keep running back in here to check the time?" Dean growled.

"No, Dean" Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched a couple of buttons.

"There!" he exclaimed.

"There what, Sam?"

"I synched up a clock on my phone so it matches the one in the control room. That way when we are in other places in the bunker we will know what we're working with before we resort to the brandy stash."

Sam put his hand out to ask Dean for his phone and he was surprised to see Dean's eyes were wide as saucers and he had gotten pale. He was staring at something behind Sam.

"Is it the Rakshasha, Dean?" Sam hissed.

Dean shook his head and pointed in response.

Sam turned and there, standing in the doorway to the library was their father, John Winchester.

"Hello, boys," his craggy features wrinkled with a big smile.

4.

"Dad?" Dean was the first to speak. "Is that you?"

"Who else would it be, Dean?"

"Yeah, but," Sam spoke up, completely lost. "You're dead. You sacrificed yourself for us. Remember?"

"Well, that is true, but things have changed in Hell and I found an out. But, there's a catch."

"Always a catch," Dean muttered.

"What catch, dad?" Sam asked, ignoring Dean's remark.

"Well, it involves the alignment of the constellations. If we can perform a specific incantation when Venus's Mirror is properly aligned in the Orion constellation then the incantation makes me invisible to Hell's grasp. It will be like I was never there and they never remembered me."

"So, what the Hell is a Venus's Mirror?" Dean asked. "Some kind of constellation?"

"No, Dean" Sam spoke up. "It's an asterism."

"An asterism?" Dean had a blank look on his face. "So, like a buncha stars?"

"Yes," John interjected. "That's it, exactly."

"Works for me," Dean walked up to John and hugged him tightly. His chest swelled at seeing his father among the living. Sam also approached their father and waited patiently for his turn to embrace his father.

"Now about the incantation," John started.

"Yeah," Dean replied. "Which incantation do we use?"

"That's the fun part. I have no idea."

"You know who would," Dean pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed.

"Rowena?" Sam suggested.

Dean smiled and pointed at his brother. Then the smile turned to a frown and he put his phone back in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Apparently, when the Men of Letters put this whole Rakshasha Solution into play it stops cell phone reception. I got nothing."

Sam checked his phone and saw that the results were the same.

"Rakshasha Solution?" John asked.

"Yeah," Dean spoke up. "We accidentally," he paused to look at Sam. Sam looked away. "Released one here in the bunker. Now we have about twenty two hours to find a way to kill it before the entire bunker goes sky high."

"Can't we just leave?" John asked.

"No can do," Dean replied. "Whole place is on lockdown."

"So now what do we do," John asked.

"Now," Sam said with a determined look on his face. "We dive into the library of The Men of Letters and find the incantation."

"And the Rakshasha?" John asked.

"Priorities," was all that Sam said and it was enough for all of them.

The three men headed to the books and started yanking anything off the shelves that might hold the key and piled them on one of the long, oak tables in the library and dove into the lore to save their father.

Or die trying.

5.

Sam's eyes were burning from the concentration of reading so many archaic texts. He stopped and rubbed his eyes. Looking across the table he smiled at the sight of his father pouring over something in ancient Sumerian.

Then he noticed something.

Where was Dean?

He looked around the room and saw that he was in the room off the library that housed the huge telescope. He stood up feeling the ache from sitting in his muscles and walked over to Dean.

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"Well," he showed Sam a book in his hand on astronomy, "I thought that since we need this Venus' Mirror thingie that it might be a good idea to see if we could locate it using this beast of a telescope."

"And you know how to work this telescope?"

"Sure," Dean pointed at another book on a chair he had dragged into the room. "Those are the directions and a machine is a machine, Sammy."

Sam nodded in agreement, and then stopped.

"This isn't like that one time you tried to see if you could point it at the girl's college the next town over, is it?"

"Sammy!" Dean was shocked. "How can you say that? This is life and death. Dad's life or death."

"I'm sorry, Dean."

"Besides, that would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."

"How's it going in here, boys?" John Winchester walked in to see what they were doing.

"Oh, great, dad." Dean grinned. "We are trying to locate Venus' Mirror to see how much time we have."

"That's a good idea son. Anyone have any luck on a spell?"

Both of the Winchester boys hung their heads in shame.

"Yeah, that's about the same on my end. If it wasn't for bad luck Winchesters wouldn't have any luck at all. Am I right?"

The boys both nodded. It was good to have their father back with them.

6.

Sam checked the timer on his phone and saw that all of their research had effectively eaten up about three hours. His stomach growled in protest. He walked over to where Dean was reading a large leather-bound tome while his father had a small, red book he was checking for the proper spell that would reunite his family.

"Anyone hungry?"

"Yeah, Dean," said enthusiastically. I could go for some of that deep dish pizza that they make in town..."

Then his face dropped as he remembered they were locked in the bunker.

"Or not," he said sadly.

"I think I'll make chili, how does that sound, dad?"

"Sounds great Sammy, Dean and I will pour over the books while you make dinner."

Sam's face crinkled in a smile and then he went off to make food.

"Don't forget to put beer in it, Sammy!" Dean yelled after him.

Sam stopped and looked at his brother incredulously.

"What am I, some kind of monster? Of course I put beer in it."

Sam turned to head back to the kitchen.

"I always put beer in my chili he grumbled to himself."

Dean stretched after being hunched over a book and finding nothing to help keep his father from Hell.

It was starting to seem impossible, but he refused to give up hope. He shoved the large book he had been staring at to one side and stood up to go get another book.

Dean remembered what the film had said about the Mayan section of the library and went right to it. There were a few ancient texts that could have a lead, but he was more concerned about the hidden panel that held the brandy the Man of Letters mentioned earlier. It was easy to find. They didn't encounter a lot of Mayan monsters so the books were pretty dusty. There had been that bat god in Kalamazoo. Nasty business that one, but they took care of it.

They always took care of it and now it was time to take care of their father.

He slid back the panel and there was a satin lined square hiding place with two large crystal containers filled with a soft amber liquid. Dean pulled them both out and unstoppered one and sniffed.

"Oh my, God," Dean moaned. This was exquisite.

He walked both containers back to the table where John was and set them down.

"What's this?" John asked.

"A present from our ancestors," Dean replied. "We're gonna need the good glasses for this."

Dean went in search of his good whiskey glasses and John watched him go. For a brief moment his eyes became cat eyes and then flashed back to normal.

"Morons," he whispered to himself when Dean left the library.

7.

Dean had a set of crystal tumblers in his room that would be perfect for the brandy. He was never a fan of snifters. Hole at the top was too damned small. He found the glasses and grabbed three of them.

Then he spotted it.

He had always looked at it and treated it as one of the antiquities of the bunker and never gave it a second thought.

A black rotary dial phone on his desk.

"No way this thing still works," Dean said aloud.

He picked up the receiver and his eyes widened as he heard the dial tone.

"Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed.

He grabbed his cell phone and found Rowena's number and started dialing.

"This takes forever," he complained.

The phone rang and Rowena picked up on the second ring.

"Who is this?" came the familiar accent that for once, Dean was happy to hear.

"Rowena, its Dean."

"Dean, and to what do I owe this call?"

There was a slight pause.

"And where are you calling me from?"

"I'm in the bunker. I found a rotary phone and it still works."  
"Still works? I remember those things. Takes forever just to dial a number."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, we have a situation here."

"I'm listening darling."

Dean filled her in on the Rakshasha and that her father was trying to come back from Hell and the time limit they had before the whole place went sky high.

"You Winchesters always have a full plate don't you, love?"

"Yean, yeah, can you help with the spell or not, Rowena."

"I can, but I don't think that's your pressing concern here."

"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, Dean Winchester, that I don't think that thing is your father."

"What? So, he's like a demon or something? That would be pretty easy to prove. Why would a demon pretend to be dad?"  
"No you thick headed galoot. I think it's the Rakshasha."

"What? Why would you say that, Rowena?"

"A Rakshasa main weapon is the spell of illusion."

"That's right!" Dean exclaimed. I should have remembered that from my book. I have that damned thing memorized."

"Book? What book, love?"

"Um," Dean stammered. "It's not important. Anyway, how do I test Dad to see if he's not, you know, Dad?"

"Why don't you just consult this 'book' of yours Dean Winchester?"

"Come on Rowena."

"Fine, pierce it with a magical weapon. I'm sure the bunker is chock full of things like that."

"Great, thanks, Rowena."

"Dean," Rowena said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you the slightest bit curious as to why this creature is stalling for time?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean that the explosion is not going to kill this thing. Material force won't work on it. I'm surprised your precious Men of Letters didn't think of that."  
"So, what do you think it's up to?"

"No idea, my pet, but I will tell you one thing; you and Samuel need to be ready when you dispel the illusion spell. Rakshaska's are nasty beasties. I don't recommend a test I recommend a swift kill with something large and magical. Understand?"

"Yeah, Rowena and what if it is my dad and we just kill him proving he's not?" Huh? What then?"

"I'm sorry, love. It's got to be done. The only thing that bomb is going to kill is you boys. The beastie will walk free and clear."

Dean slammed the phone down into its cradle. The satisfaction of slamming the phone felt better than anything else. The one thing that cell phones would never replace. Try slamming a cell phone and you're off getting a new cell phone.

Dean sighed and scratched the stubble on his firm jaw.

"Jesus," he whispered and headed out the door of his room back to the library where a monster might be waiting for him.

Wouldn't be the first time.

On the other end of the phone Rowena recoiled from the sound of the phone slamming. It had been a long time since she had heard that sound. She shrugged and went back to reading the screen of her computer.

Her eyes squinted for a moment, and then she stopped reading to try to work out what she had just read.

"I'm pretty sure Mr. 'FreakyWinchesterBros.' That you and this have never even met a girl."

She read a little more.

"Virgins. That isn't even a workable position."

She thought about it again and shook her head in disbelief.

"Unless you're triple jointed."

She closed the laptop in disgust.

8.

Dean bypassed the library and headed for the storage room where they kept a large quantity of mystic weapons. He knew just the one that would do the job. In the back was a large, carved wooden box with a silver clasp. Opening it revealed a large, curved dagger that The Men of Letters called The Fang of Loki. The metal had a sheen of green to it.

Legend had it that it was forged from the fang of a mythical serpent that Odin had used to torment Loki during Ragnarok. It didn't look like any snake fang Dean had ever seen, but he felt that if that thing walking around was just a Rakshaska pretending to be John Winchester then it would do the damned job.

'Should have known it wasn't dad," Dean muttered to himself. "We never catch a damned break."

With that he walked from the room with the dagger tucked into the inside of his jacket. He walked back to the library and saw there was no one there. He heard voices from the kitchen. Following the sound he found Sam and what appeared to be his father eating chili and talking.

"Dean, you're back. Sam came and got me and we started eating without you. Hope that was okay."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Not a problem."

"Dean, Dad said you went looking for whiskey glasses."

"Oh yeah, yeah," Dean thought fast to create a cover story. "I really thought they were in my room, but I can't seem to find the damned things. Pretty sure the liquor cabinet in the library will have suitable glasses. Right now I need some of that chili I smelled all the way down the hall."

Dean walked over to the stove, grabbed a bowl and filled it from the pot of chili. He came over and sat on the same side of the table and ate quietly."

"Dean?" John spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Are we going to drink that expensive looking booze or what? I left the bottles in the library."

"The whiskey," Then a light went off in Dean's head. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Sam, can you give me a hand?"

"A hand?" Sam looked puzzled. "With what? A bottle of booze and three glasses? Dean, even I'm sure you can handle that."

"Yeah," Dean gave Sam a sideways glance towards the library. "But the decanters are pretty heavy and I really would hate dropping the brandy."

"Okay, sure," Sam stood up and followed Dean out of the room. Dean smiled at the thing that was masquerading as his father and they went down the hall.

"Dean, what the Hell?" Sam exclaimed as they walked down the hallway of the bunker towards the library.

"Keep your voice down, Sam." Dean hissed. "I talked to Rowena."

"We have zero cell service right now because of the bunker lockdown. How did you talk to Rowena?"

"Apparently that old rotary phone in my room actually works."

"What? It works. Well, what did she say?"

"She said that ain't Dad back there scarfing down your chili. Apparently, Rakshasa are masters of illusion."  
"So, that thing looks like Dad? Why would it do that? Why is it trying to find a spell?"

"Rowena figured that it was stalling until the bunker blows up."

"Wouldn't that just kill the Rakshasa, along with us?"

"Nope, seems that physical damage doesn't work. Only by piercing it with a magical weapon."

"So, we got to storage a get a weapon."

"Way ahead of ya Sammy. I got…" Dean reached into his coat, looked puzzled and looked some more.

"What is it, Dean?" Sam asked.

"I think your brother is looking for this." John Winchesters voice echoed down the hall where he was standing with The Fang of Loki.

Sam gave Dean a look.

"You grabbed The Fang of Loki? Didn't that seem like overkill to you?"

"It seemed like the easiest way to make sure that thing was dead." Dean looked at the beast who was playing with the knife.

"How did you get that from my coat without me knowing it?"

"A good conjurer must have his tricks, Dean."

"So now what?" Sam asked.

"Well, I need that clock to run out boys. You see I'm not what I appear to be."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean sneered. We get it. You're a Rakshasa and when this places goes up in smoke you can just walk on out of here. We get it."

"Well, that is partly true, but," the creature paused. "Do you mind if I change back to my normal form. Illusions can be quite draining."

"Yeah, if you could stop pretending to be our dad that would be great," Sam gave the monster a look of disgust.

"Excellent!" And like that John Winchester was gone and in his place was the beast with the head of a tiger in a sophisticated ornate smoking jacket and silk trousers.

"Got to admit," Dean spoke up. "Even for an asshat of a monster that was pretty cool."

"Why thank you, Dean," The tiger's face split into a wide grin baring all of its sharp, white teeth. "And now it's time for you two to stop being such a nuisance."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Oh…this!" The Rakshasa leapt at the Winchester brothers with lightning speed and knocked them into the hard tile walls of the bunker hallway.

They were out cold in less than ten seconds.

9.

Dean slowly came back to consciousness. He could feel his heartbeat throb in time to the welt on his head.

Dean hated being knocked out.

Before he could open his eyes that really wanted to stay closed, he heard Sammy groan nearby.

That made him snap open his lids. Then he realized he couldn't move. A quick survey of the situation had him tied to a chair in the library. Next to him was Sam, also tied to a chair and still coming to from the lightning fast attack of the Rakshasa.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled in the hopes of bringing his brother around. "Sammy!"

"Tut, tut," came a measure sophisticated voice from in front of Dean. He focused his blurry vision and saw the Rakshasa looking through the telescope.

"A little stargazing, huh?" Dean grumbled at the monster.

"Sort of," the monster stopped peering through the giant instrument and walked towards where it had tied the Winchester brothers to a pair of sturdy oak chairs.

"See, I really am interested in the proper alignment of Venus' Mirror, just not for the reasons you thought."

"Really," Dean growled. "Probably because you're not our dad, huh?"

"I am sorry," the beast chortled with amusement. "I really am not fond of physical altercations. I prefer to use my wits instead of my fists, but, as you can see, I am efficient with those as well."

"Sure, because you're a friggin Rakshasa." Dean realized that this was one of those talkative monsters so, he thought he could buy them some time.

Dean hated chatty monsters, unless it worked in his favor.

"Yes," The Rakshasa smiled, which with a tiger's face was creepy even to Dean. "I am amazed that you identified me so quickly. Are there so many of my kind in this backwater civilization of yours?"

"Nope," Dean retuned the smile. "Here you're just a part of a game." He nodded towards the Monster Manual that was lying on one of the library tables nearby.

The beast arched one eyebrow and slowly walked to the book. When it picked it up Dean realized that its palms were on the back of its hands and the fingers bent in the opposite direction. He shivered for a moment from sheer revulsion. Then he was amazed at how easily the monster maneuvered the book.

The Rakshasa flipped through the book.

"Try looking under R, you can't miss it." Dean chided.

The beast did just that and Dean was astonished at how the monster's face darkened ever so softly.

"Well, at least the likeness is remarkable," The Rakshasa said softly and then flung the book across the library.

"Hey!" Dean yelled. "That's a first edition. It has all my notes in it."

"Amusing," The Rakshasa chuckled. "You think this is all a game, don't you? I have dealt with your kind before, you and your, what do they call themselves? Men of Letters? I also know that their solution to me will do nothing. You and your brother, however…not as lucky I'm afraid."

"It's funny you say that," Dean smiled.

"Say what?" the creature asked.

"Men of Letters. See, while our grandfather was one of them Sam and I are not. We're hunters. We're the ones that put down monsters like you."

The monster came closer to Dean and bowed ever so slightly until they were face to face. Dean could smell its fetid breath on his face.

"And how is that working out for you?"

"I'd say pretty much on par."

"You and your brother are tied to chairs, the clock in the other room says you have about thirty minutes before this whole place goes up in a massive explosion and I walk away scot free and you are both dead and you're response is 'on par'?"

"Actually, we rarely get thirty minutes so I'd say better than average." The monster stood up, threw its head back and laughed loud and long.

This woke Sam up who looked more than puzzled at their current situation.

"Tied to a chair by a monster again?" Sam asked groggily.

"Yup, we were getting to the part where we hear this idiot's master plan."

"Idiot?" The Rakshasa roared. "You call me an idiot? Do you have any idea what I plan to do?"

"Nope," Dean winked at Sam. "Probably something stupid like all monsters. Right, Sam?" Dean winked at Sam.

"Huh? Oh, yeah right!" Sam gave his huge smile. "Probably real stupid."

"Insignificant mortals!" The Rakshasa roared at his captives. "I was created when the great God Brahma breathed all Rakshasa to life. As punishment for our bloodlust we were sent to dwell with you insignificant humans. In approximately half an hour the stars will align and the configuration of Venus' Mirror will enable me to release s spell backed by the force of the explosion from this ill conceived final solution of your forefathers. Upon completion, I will release my brothers, captured for eons by the miserable Men of Letters and we will conquer this planet and feast on the flesh of all mankind."

The Rakshasa paused for dramatic effect and stared at Sam and Dean.

"My only regret is that I will not taste your flesh as it will be consumed in the explosion."

"Yeah, I'm kind of stringy and would probably get stuck in your throat. You ready, Sam?"

"Yeah, Dean."

"Ready?" The Rakshasa mocked. What could you possibly be ready for? Your doom is at hand!"

"You're just a trigger in a smoking jacket, chuckles. The Winchester Brothers kill gods for breakfast."

With that Dean and Sam, long free of the knots from the ropes leapt up. Sam ran at the beast while Dean flipped over one of the nearby tables to the right. The Rakshasa was alarmed, but quickly grabbed Sam and lifted him from the ground.

"Free or not, you will not stop me. Maybe I will feast on your flesh after all."

"Not today Tony!" Dean yelled and came running at the beast, the Fang of Loki in his hand. He jumped up on one of the long library tables and dove off of it right at the beast. He plunged the dagger deep into its back driving it all the way to the hilt.

"What have you done?" The Rakshasa looked as if he couldn't believe what had happened.

"What we do, kill monsters, save people, the family business."

The Rakshasa fell to the ground and then exploded into a cascade of light. Dean and Sam closed their eyes to the blast and ducked down under one of the tables.

After a minute they both stood up and looked around.

"Nothing," Dean said matter of factly.

"Nice to not have to clean up monster goop fo0r a change," Sam said.

"Right?" Dean walked over to one of the decanters of brandy, opened it and took a swig.

"Wow! That is exceptionally good. Sam? You want some of this?"

"No Dean, I'm good."

Dean shrugged and took another swig.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"You called it Tony?"

"Yeah, Tony the Tiger."

Sam rolled his eyes at the bad pun.

Then the voice in the bunker returned.

"Threat of Rakshasa eliminated. Bunker lockdown lifted."

"See," Dean smiled. "We did good. But I tell you the next thing I'm doing is looking for those nitroglycerine charges those maniacs planted in our bunker."

"Our bunker?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Well, possession is nine tenths and I don't see anyone else coming to claim it."

"Fair enough. Yeah, maybe getting rid of the bombs is a good idea, Dean."

"Damn straight!"

10.

Dean sauntered into Giuseppe's Pizza Parlor and walked up to the counter with cash in hand. The young man with long red hair in a braid saw Dean and gulped nervously.

""You got one of those deep dish pies for Winchester?" Dean asked.

"Y-yessir, right away, sir."

Dean chuckled at the kid and his nervous twitch. The young man brought him the pizza box.

"That'll be fifteen even."

Dean handed the kid a twenty.

"Keep the change…" he leaned in to read the red headed guy's name tag. "…Jacques. That's your name, Jacques?"

"Uh, yes. My parents were French Canadian."

"Ah!" Dean nodded. "Okay then." Dean nodded grabbed the pizza box and headed back out the door. Jacques Strahp watched him go and finally exhaled in relief when he was out of sight.

"I'm gonna have to move again," Jacques groaned.

Outside Dean walked up to where Sam was standing near the trunk of the Impala. He set the pizza box down, opened it and grabbed a slice. Without a word he took a big bite and rolled his eyes in ecstasy.

"So good," he moaned.

"Do I need to leave the two of you alone?" Sam said sarcastically.

"What? No, Sammy half is yours."

"Maybe a slice." Sam grabbed a slice and took a bite. He had to agree that it was amazing pizza.

"I'll tell you now, Sam if you don't eat your half I'm eating it."

"You mean like always."

Dean chuckled. Sam reached into the cooler at their feet and grabbed tqwo glass boittle of beer. He handed on to dean who stuck the piece of pizza in his mouth so he could open the beer. He washed it down with the beer and moaned again.

"Pretty sure, they made beer just to go with pizza."

Dean's cell phone rang. He looked at his beer, set it on the car. He grabbed his phone and put it to his ear.

Yeah? Kevin? What's up?"

He paused and listened to the voice on the other side.

"Yeah, great we're on our way."

"What did Kevin want, Dean?"

"Good news little brother. He cracked the code on the tablet. Time to slam the door shut on Hell for good.

With that Dean grabbed the pizza box, Sam grabbed the cooler and they got into Baby. With the turn of a key the Impala roared to life and the Winchester Brothers headed down the road.

The End


End file.
